Anghraine

Hey again! I've had a somewhat busy weekend (busy with FUN but nevertheless), but I wanted to do another challenge before it ends. #9 is:

Rec Us Your Newest Thing. I love seeing what people are loving on, what song that they can’t stop singing, what movie that they want to talk about but their family is tired of hearing about it, what video game they found that fills them with the sense of wonder and accomplishment that only other gamers can truly appreciate.

There are multiple things I could choose! I recently finished The King of Attolia (awesome). I've enjoyed listening to the new bombastic orchestra soundtrack-style version of Bastille's "Pompeii" (by Bastille and ... Hans Zimmer? okay), which isn't as clean as the original but is more my personal sort of thing. There's—

Okay, let's be real. It's the Mass Effect trilogy. The best friend and I are about 3/4 of the way through our second playthrough, and while it has flaws (does it ever!), I think it does fully deserve its stature in the gaming community. So much fantastic dialogue (playing a more Renegade-ish Shepard only unlocked even more of it), the setting is fascinating (I don't really care about the Reapers and wish they'd let them stay enigmatic and incomprehensible but I care so much about their impact on basically everyone else in the galaxy that it works), female Shepard is a fantastic character and most of the major characters are super compelling, it's visually beautiful, there are tons of absolutely incredible storytelling elements and the way so many choices have real effects and intertwine to create the story, etc etc. I'm not saying anything new, really. But it's a hell of a game. The Paragon genophage arc alone is worth the price of admission.

I do have serious criticisms of some aspects (a lot of choices made with Jacob and James, the asari generally despite my love for them, the ogling of Benezia, Miranda, and Samara, the villainization of politics, etc). But I love it, warts and all. And ME3 is pretty easily my favorite of the three (yes, despite the ending), so I'm just... staying away from much of the fandom and rolling around in enjoyment.